Karma

Karma (Sanskrit, also karman, Pāli: kamma) is a Sanskrit term that literally means "action" or "doing". In the Buddhist tradition, karma refers to action driven by intention (cetanā) which leads to future consequences. Those intentions are considered to be the determining factor in the kind of rebirth in samsara, the cycle of rebirth.

Karma and karmaphala are fundamental concepts in Buddhism.[12][13] The concepts of karma and karmaphala explain how intentional actions keep one tied to rebirth in samsara, whereas the Buddhist path, as exemplified in the Noble Eightfold Path, shows us the way out of samsara.[14]

Rebirth

Rebirth,[note 2], is a common belief in all Buddhist traditions. It says that birth and death in the six realms occur in successive cycles driven by ignorance (avidyā), desire (trsnā), and hatred (dvesa). The cycle of rebirth is called samsāra. It is a beginningless and ever-ongoing process.[15] Liberation from samsāra can be attained by following the Buddhist Path. This path leads to vidyā, and the stilling of trsnā and dvesa. Hereby the ongoing process of rebirth is stopped.

Karma

The cycle of rebirth is determined by karma,[15] literally "action".[note 3] In the Buddhist tradition, karma refers to actions driven by intention (cetanā),[21][22][6][quote 1] a deed done deliberately through body, speech or mind, which leads to future consequences.[25] The Nibbedhika Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya 6.63: Intention (cetana) I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect.[web 1][note 4]

According to Peter Harvey,

It is the psychological impulse behind an action that is 'karma', that which sets going a chain of causes culminating in karmic fruit. Actions, then, must be intentional if they are to generate karmic fruits.[26]

And according to Gombrich,

The Buddha defined karma as intention; whether the intention manifested itself in physical, vocal or mental form, it was the intention alone which had a moral character: good, bad or neutral [...] The focus of interest shifted from physical action, involving people and objects in the real world, to psychological process.[27]

According to Gombrich, this was a great innovation, which overturns brahmanical, caste-bound ethics. It is a rejection of caste-bound differences, giving the same possibility to reach liberation to all people, not just Brahmanins:[28]

Not by birth is one a brahmin or an outcaste, but by deeds (kamma).[29][note 5]

How this emphasis on intention was to be interpreted became a matter of debate in and between the various Buddhist schools.[30][note 6]

Karmaphala

Karma leads to future consequences, karma-phala, "fruit of action".[33] Any given action may cause all sorts of results, but the karmic results are only those results which are a consequence of both the moral quality of the action, and of the intention behind the action.[34][note 7] According to Reichenbach,

[T]he consequences envisioned by the law of karma encompass more (as well as less) than the observed natural or physical results which follow upon the performance of an action.[36]

The "law of karma" applies

...specifically to the moral sphere[.] [It is] not concerned with the general relation between actions and their consequences, but rather with the moral quality of actions and their consequences, such as the pain and pleasure and good or bad experiences for the doer of the act.[36]

Good moral actions lead to wholesome rebirths, and bad moral actions lead to unwholesome rebirths.[15][quote 3][quote 4] The main factor is how they contribute to the well-being of others in a positive or negative sense.[41] Especially dāna, giving to the Buddhist order, became an increasingly important source of positive karma.[42]

How these intentional actions lead to rebirth, and how the idea of rebirth is to be reconciled with the doctrines of impermanence and no-self,[43][quote 5] is a matter of philosophical inquiry in the Buddhist traditions, for which several solutions have been proposed.[15] In early Buddhism no explicit theory of rebirth and karma is worked out,[18] and "the karma doctrine may have been incidental to early Buddhist soteriology."[19][20] In early Buddhism, rebirth is ascribed to craving or ignorance.[16][17]

In later Buddhism, the basic idea is that intentional actions,[44] driven by kleshas ("disturbing emotions"),[web 3] cetanā ("volition"),[21] or taṇhā ("thirst", "craving")[45] create impressions,[web 4][note 8] tendencies[web 4] or "seeds" in the mind. These impressions, or "seeds", will ripen into a future result or fruition.[46][quote 6][note 9] If we can overcome our kleshas, then we break the chain of causal effects that leads to rebirth in the six realms.[web 3] The twelve links of dependent origination provides a theoretical framework, explaining how the disturbing emotions lead to rebirth in samsara.[47][note 10]

Complex process

The Buddha's teaching of karma is not strictly deterministic, but incorporated circumstantial factors, unlike that of the Jains.[49][50][51][quote 7] It is not a rigid and mechanical process, but a flexible, fluid and dynamic process,[52] and not all present conditions can be ascribed to karma.[50][note 11][quote 8] There is no set linear relationship between a particular action and its results.[51] The karmic effect of a deed is not determined solely by the deed itself, but also by the nature of the person who commits the deed, and by the circumstances in which it is committed.[53][51]

Karma is also not the same as "fate" or "predestination".[web 6] Karmic results are not a "judgement" imposed by a God or other all-powerful being, but rather the results of a natural process.[54][26][6][quote 9] Certain experiences in life are the results of previous actions, but our responses to those experiences are not predetermined, although they bear their own fruit in the future.[59][quote 10] Unjust behaviour may lead to unfavorable circumstances which make it easier to commit more unjust behavior, but nevertheless the freedom not to commit unjust behavior remains.[60]

Liberation from samsāra

The real importance of the doctrine of karma and its fruits lies in the recognition of the urgency to put a stop to the whole process.[61][62] The Acintita Sutta warns that "the results of kamma" is one of the four incomprehensible subjects,[63][web 7] subjects that are beyond all conceptualization[63] and cannot be understood with logical thought or reason.[note 12]

According to Gombrich, this sutra may have been a warning against the tendency, "probably from the Buddha's day until now", to understand the doctrine of karma "backwards", to explain unfavorable conditions in this life when no other explanations are available.[67] Gaining a better rebirth may have been,[68][69] and still is, the central goal for many people.[70][71] The adoption, by laity, of Buddhist beliefs and practices is seen as a good thing, which brings merit and good rebirth,[72] but does not result in Nirvana,[72] and liberation from samsāra, the ultimate goal of the Buddha.[7